7. Matthew's Community and Us

Matthew's community was not a group of withdrawn ascetics, but rather a community that had participated and was participating in significant historical events. Reactions to some of the major events, both religious and social, had divided Matthew's people into all shades of conservative and liberal. His community showed not only pluralism, but at times even contradictory positions on important issues. Matthew, while probably not agreeing with them, left the differences intact. He strove for reconciliation, renewal, and a corporate sense of mission.

Matthew's community lived at a turning point in Christianity, and had to make decisions which brought them hardship and social persecution. Our Christian communities of 1990 have many of these same characteristics. Matthew presents Jesus to us to calm the storms of our communities, reminding us that divisiveness is a sign of little faith. Christianity's place is still in the midst of world events: the tragedies, oppression, joys and hopes of humankind. There will always be differences among us, but if we are constantly committed to reconciliation, renewal, and a sense of mission, they can be at least controlled and managed. Like Matthew's community, we need maturity and objectivity to face our differences.(14)

Our problems and needs are not unlike those of Matthew's community, and his creative responses to their problems can still be valuable to us. All genuine Christian life must be rooted in the saving events of Jesus, and Matthew is diligent in identifying these sources and establishing them as the foundation for faith. But Christian life does not merely repeat a literalist and fundamentalist version of Jesus' life. Authentic Christian commitment requires a living and life-giving interpretation of those historical events in every generation and in every culture. Only such rooting and interpreting guarantee the genuineness of faith.(15)

Uncertain times can prompt us Christians to ask important questions about our faith and our place in the world: How are we to live as Christians? What are we to do? Where do we turn to find truth and meaning? What does following Jesus mean? What values do we want to foster in ourselves and others? How do we make right decisions and design concrete strategies for action which can create a better world for ourselves and the coming generations? Such questions troubled Matthew and his community. We also ask them today.

Confusion can move us, as it moved Matthew and his community, to reflect on our roots－the persons and experiences from which we have come as individuals and families, as Christian communities, and as a society. As we recall our heritage, we remember significant persons and we relive the events which have shaped our identity. We try to recapture the vision and recover the values of those who founded our communities. As we tap into our roots, we may gain new perspectives from which to view our present times.(16)

Matthew and his community worked with inherited traditions, attended to their present experience, and responded to their surrounding culture. We must do the same. Matthew's story is our inherited tradition. As we listen to it in personal or community settings, we also listen to our present experience and our contemporary culture. We, too, must let what we hear come together in reflection and prayer so that we can discover how God through Matthew's story might be enabling us to live as Christians in our uncertain times.(17)

12.LaVerdiere and Thompson, art. cit. 578-580.

13.William G. Thompson, Matthew's Story. God News For Uncertain Times (New York: Paulist Press, 1989) 127.

14.Doohan, op. cit. 49.

15.Ibidem 161.

16.Thompson, op. cit. 15-16.

17.Ibidem 53.